I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in

By Kira Dault|Print |Share

blogEthic of LifeHispanic CatholicsImmigrationPoliticsSocial Justice

The nuns are halfway through their cross-country bus tour that started in New Haven, Connecticut and will end in San Francisco, California. Their message from this time around is focused on what they call "commonsense immigration reform."[1] This includes measures like protecting the rights of immigrant workers, ensuring family unity, and includes a "clear and direct path to citizenship for the 11 million people who are undocumented in the U.S."

The impasse in Washington hardly comes as a surprise. After all, this Congress has earned for itself a reputation. Consistently, we can all look at Congress (both sides) and give a report card that reads "doesn't play well with others." It would be funny if their refusal to talk in anything but sound bites worked like Monopoly money - fun to play with but lacking any real-world consequences. Unfortunately, though, the people in Washington are making decisions that have very real-world consequences for very real people[7].

In his statement in USA Today, Cardinal Dolan [4]wrote: "In the end, immigration reform is about answers to some basic questions. How do we treat our brothers and sisters? Do we want to continue a system that keeps millions of people in a permanent underclass? Do we want to continue to separate a generation of children from their parents? Do we want to continue the American heritage of hospitality or not? We must do better."

If "immigration reform" ultimately boils down to "keeping immigrants out," then, as a nation and as a church, we are failing to live up to our calling to welcome the stranger among us. Stamped onto the Statue of Liberty are the words, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled massed yearning to breathe free, The retched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless tempest-tossed to me." Jesus, too, tells us, "for I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in... just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me."

It is time for us to work collectively toward the goal of opening our hearts to welcome the strangers as brothers and sisters, rather than constantly trying to push them out.